Carrie

Talk about a powerful combination of ingredients: the source novel by Stephen King; Brian De Palma as director; Sissy Spacek as telekinetic teen heroine; and Piper Laurie as her mother, possibly a witch. And did we mention Amy Irving and John Travolta as the prom queen and king? One of the great films about high school, the 1976 Carrie turns adolescence into literal horror. Spacek is the meek doormat subject to a cruel social prank by the popular kids at school. They see her as an easy victim. And at first she, too, shares that self-estimation. She's terrified of menstrual blood, terrified of her mother, yet possessed of secret powers--just as every teen feels herself or himself to be. The cycle of bullying, victimhood, and revenge still resonates in our post-Columbine era. Only Carrie doesn't need automatic weapons to strike back at her tormentors. (R) BRIAN MILLER